Erie Times-News (Erie, PA) articles from April 2001

Erie Times-News (Erie, PA) archives from April 2001

Erie County, Pa., Mall Suffers from Declining Retail Sales.
April 2, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Mar. 29--Pairs and trios of walkers are not deterred by news of plummeting stocks, rising unemployment and declining retail sales as they take their brisk morning strolls through the corridors of Millcreek Mall. ...

Erie, Pa., Airport to Redesign Parking Lot over Summer.
April 5, 2001... Byline: Jim Carroll Apr. 4--Highways aren't the only place where drivers will be dodging orange traffic cones this construction season. They will find a few at the airport, too. The parking lot at Erie International Airport will turn...

Cambridge Springs, Pa., Commercial Development Begins to Take Shape.
April 5, 2001... Byline: John Bartlett Apr. 4--CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS, Pa.--In 1966, when Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative bought vacant farmland along Route 86 near its headquarters building, some skeptical members probably wondered if the co-op was...

Vacant Erie, Pa., Restaurant Soon May Have New Occupant.
April 5, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 4--The leasing agent for the former Don Pablos restaurant at the Pavilion at the Millcreek Mall said his company is close to reaching an agreement to lease the building to a new tenant. The building, which...

Development Agency Strives to Get Erie, Pa.-Area Firms Online.
April 5, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 4--Mitchell Price sees himself as a bit of a 21st-century pied piper. Price, the director of e-business initiatives for the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center, is trying to lead Erie's...

Amherst, N.Y., Firm Plans Domed Golf Complex in Erie, Pa., Area.
April 5, 2001... Byline: Deborah McQuaid Apr. 4--A Buffalo company wants to build a $2.5 million driving range, miniature golf and restaurant complex under a fabric dome on Route 99, just north of Erie County Memorial Gardens cemetery. It would be the...

Erie, Pa.-Area Woman Develops Medical Intubator.
April 5, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 5--Natalie McCray's limited budget has slowed her down, but it hasn't been enough to stop her from pursuing what she hopes is a million-dollar idea. The former nurse and first-time inventor has developed a...

Shipping Season Opens at Port of Erie, Pa.
April 5, 2001... Byline: Jim Carroll Apr. 3--This year's shipping season at the Port of Erie opened Monday when the 634-foot American Republic cruised in carrying about 25,000 tons of limestone from Marble Head, Canada. "For us, the season is opening...

Endangered Bird May Delay Construction of Erie County, Pa., Racetrack.
April 5, 2001... Byline: Deborah McQuaid Apr. 4--An endangered bird species could indefinitely delay construction of an auto racing track in Greenfield Township in eastern Erie County. During routine investigation by the state Department of...

Bird Lovers Boost Tourism in Erie, Pa., Area.
April 5, 2001... Byline: John Bartlett Apr. 4--The questions are for the birds, and Jerry McWilliams receives them by e-mail almost daily. "What are people seeing?" "Anything unusual?" "What's arriving?" "When's the best time to come?"...

Erie, Pa., Advertising Club Honors Two for Achievements.
April 8, 2001... Apr. 6--The Erie Advertising Club recognized the achievements and contributions of two local communications professionals during its 31st annual ADDYS Award Program Friday. The program, which marks the first level of a three-tier competition...

Erie Times-News, Pa., People on the Move Column.
April 8, 2001... Apr. 6--ERIC J. CONSIGLIO has been named a partner and vice president of Loesel-Schaaf Insurance Agency Inc. A 1995 graduate of West Virginia University with a bachelor's degree in finance, Consiglio has been a sales and service representative...

Kmart Brings Back the BlueLight Special.
April 8, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 6--After a decade in mothballs, one of the most familiar symbols in all of retailing is making a comeback. The beacon that gave birth to Kmart's BlueLight Special is shining once again. Here and across the...

Pennsylvania Universities Expect Graduates to Fare Well in Job Market.
April 8, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 6--Robert Wallace has seen sour economic times spoil plenty of job searches during his two decades as director of Gannon University's MBA program. "There were a couple of times where it's been tough, where...

Air Fares for Flights Departing Erie, Pa., Dip.
April 10, 2001... Byline: Jim Carroll Apr. 10--Summer air fares are a bargain right now, and local travel agents say this is a chance for people to stretch their travel dollars. Travelers will have to move quickly to take advantage of the air fare sale...

Canada Has Been Drilling below Lake Erie for Years.
April 10, 2001... Byline: John Bartlett Apr. 10--Pennsylvania's Lake Erie waters, like those of all the eight Great Lakes states, are free of gas wells. But within an easy fishing-line cast from Pennsylvania's waters are dozens of wells and pipelines that...

Debate Reaches Congress over Whether to Drill for Natural Gas in Lake Erie.
April 11, 2001... Byline: John Bartlett Apr. 9--Supply shortages and soaring prices have resurrected an old debate about drilling for natural gas in the United States waters of the Great Lakes, including Lake Erie. The debate is currently raging in Ohio...

Airlines Reduce Prices to Attract Vacationers as Economy Slows.
April 12, 2001... Byline: Jim Carroll Apr. 12--Summer air fares are a bargain right now, and local travel agents say this is a chance for people to stretch their travel dollars. Travelers will have to move quickly to take advantage of the air fare sale...

Harborcreek, Pa., Retail Plaza to Be Sold in Auction.
April 12, 2001... Byline: Jack Grazier Apr. 11--When the auctioneer's voice rings out over the Eastway Plaza on April 30, he won't be selling knickknacks. What's on the auction block is the plaza itself and bids must be at least $5 million. The...

Erie, Pa., Technical Institute to Undergo Another Transition.
April 12, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 12--It still doesn't have a new name, but the Northwest Pennsylvania Technical Institute has a new home, a smaller staff and a clearer sense of how it will operate once a state-mandated restructuring takes...

Electricity Companies FirstEnergy, GPU May Call Off Merger.
April 12, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 12--FirstEnergy Corp. executives say GPU Energy's mounting financial woes could force FirstEnergy to back out of its merger deal with GPU -- a possibility that GPU officials say could ultimately doom the...

Erie Times-News, Pa., People on the Move Column.
April 13, 2001... Apr. 12--Cathedral Preparatory School teacher Sister JAMES FRANCIS MULLIGAN has been presented the "Celebrate Literacy Award" by the Erie Reading Council. Mulligan has been a teacher for more than 50 years and taught at Cathedral Prep for...

Pennsylvania Farmers Organization Shares Views with Media.
April 16, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 14--Farming may well be one of the world's oldest professions, but after thousands of years of change, access to water remains a top concern, said Guy Donaldson, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. It's...

U.S. Tool Manufacturers Threatened by Quality of Chinese Imports.
April 16, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 14--Kurt Duska knew what he'd find on a recent tour of tool-and-die plants in China -- old equipment, dirt floors and poorly trained toolmakers. What he found instead was a lesson in why tool companies in Erie...

Erie, Pa., Agency Helps Local Models Launch Careers.
April 18, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 17--Anita Gray's modeling career began with a weekly bus ride to Buffalo. Each Saturday, the then-teenager would hop the bus to attend classes at the Barbazon modeling school, then return home to Erie. ...

Erie, Pa., Radio Station Building to Become Funeral Home.
April 19, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 18--The building that houses Erie radio stations Froggy 94 and the Point 102.3 will be converted into a funeral home this summer after the stations are moved to a new studio at the Boston Store building. ...

Erie, Pa., Retirees to Join Pension Protest at General Electric Annual Meeting.
April 20, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 20--Thirteen retired General Electric employees received a boisterous send-off from about 150 of their brethren Thursday as they got ready to embark on a 37-hour round-trip bus ride to protest GE's pension...

Erie Times-News, Pa., People on the Move Column.
April 22, 2001... Apr. 20--RUDY KOEHLE, of Erie, is one of nine nationwide members of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers selected to receive a 2001 Award of Merit. The award is conferred annually to honor society members for their contributions to the...

Spring Cold in Erie, Pa., But Not Too Cold for Farmers.
April 22, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 20--It's been a cold spring, but there's little reason for farmers to worry -- at least not yet, said Joel Hunter an agronomist and the director of Crawford County Extension. Typically, farmers throughout the...

Erie, Pa.-Based Insurance Firm Riven by Family Dispute at Top.
April 22, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 20--The annual meetings for Erie Indemnity Co. and General Electric Co. are one day and more than 800 miles apart. But the themes surrounding each company's yearly shareholder gathering are strikingly similar....

Erie, Pa.-Based Engine Company Files for Bankruptcy.
April 23, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 20--Skinner Engine Co., one of Erie's oldest industrial companies, is seeking protection from its creditors through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Founded in 1868, the West 12th Street company was born in the age of...

Veteran General Electric Employees in Erie, Pa., Take Cuts in Stride.
April 24, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 24--With many years of service behind them, some first-shift workers at GE Transportation Systems say they're not too worried about the prospect of layoffs. But younger workers and those with shorter tenures may...

General Electric Transportation Systems to Cut Another 450 Jobs.
April 24, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 24--GE Transportation Systems announced its largest layoff in nearly a decade Monday, as about 450 workers will soon lose their jobs as a result of a continued decline in locomotive production at its Lawrence...

Erie, Pa., Engine Company Files for Bankruptcy, Expects to Emerge Soon.
April 25, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 25--Skinner Engine Co. has been around for more than a hundred years and one company official said he expects it to be around for a hundred more. The Erie company filed last week for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...

Erie Times-News, Pa., People on the Move Column.
April 26, 2001... Apr. 26--PAUL DIFUCCIA has joined the staff of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania Inc. as chief financial officer. His duties include overseeing the functions of the financial department, asset and investment management, and...

Erie, Pa.-Based Financial Group Merges with Accounting Firm Subsidiary.
April 27, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 27--The Sorce Financial Group, founded six years ago by brothers Greg and Chris Sorce, has announced a partnership with a subsidiary of Hill Barth & King, one of the nation's largest accounting firms. The...

Erie, Pa., Warehouse Market Cools as Economy Slows.
April 27, 2001... Byline: Jim Carroll Apr. 27--Erie International Airport officials recently found something new on their hands -- empty warehouse space. Two tenants have moved out of the former Penn Brass building that the Erie Municipal Airport...

Mining Operation to Replace Country Club in Titusville, Pa.
April 27, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 26--TITUSVILLE, Pa.--For nearly 80 years, golfers and their clubs have appeared as reliably as daffodils each spring at the Titusville Country Club. This year, they've been replaced by bulldozers and other...

New Home Becomes First of Many Changes for Northwest Pennsylvania Tech School.
April 27, 2001... Byline: Peter Panepento Apr. 27--For more than a decade, the Northwest Pennsylvania Technical Institute has struggled with its identity. Since its founding in 1990, it has been a school without a campus, an institution without a core,...

Erie, Pa.-Area Steel Plant to Close in June; More Than 200 to Lose Jobs.
April 28, 2001... Byline: Jim Martin Apr. 28--EMI, a company that began life in 1880 as Erie Malleable Iron Co., plans to close its doors in June, leaving more than 200 jobless. Bill Wolfram, staff representative for the United Steel Workers of...